Hyderabad: Cyber crime is on the rise in India. The cyber crime rate in the country increased from 3.3 percent in 2019 to 3.7 percent in 2020. According to the National Crime Bureau Records (NCRB), 50,035 cyber crime cases were registered in 2020, of which 60.2 percent were online financial fraud. Hackers broke into people's bank accounts and many people lost money through fake OTPs and online banking
Often those who lose small amounts do not complain to avoid legal trouble. The recorded figures are much lower than the actual events. This can be inferred from the fact that between January 2020 and January 2021, i.e. in one year, 200,000 people had complained of financial fraud through the Home Ministry portal cybercrime.gov.in. Out of this, cases were lodged after investigation only in 5,000 incidents.
According to a report released in April 2021 by security research firm Norton Lifelock, about 27 million personal data (account numbers, passwords, OTPs, phone numbers) have been stolen in the country in the last one year. Hackers can hack into your bank account based on passwords and personal details. Most people are silent when it comes to cyber financial fraud, thinking that nothing can be done about it. But that is not the case. One can get the full amount back if he or she is a victim of online fraud.
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According to the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), if any unauthorised transaction takes place, you can get your full money back even after that. This requires vigilance. According to the RBI, you can avoid losses by reporting any such illegal transactions to the bank. When you make a card or online payment, a message appears on the phone number associated with the account. It also contains the link and phone number for making online complaint.
As a rule, you must notify the bank about the transaction within three days of the online financial fraud. Banks have an insurance policy, which allows them to claim the amount lost in online fraud. As soon as the consumer lodges a complaint, the bank sends the details of the fraud directly to the insurance company. The loss of the customer is compensated by the money of the insurance company. If the consumer does not report the fraud to the bank within three days, the complaint must be lodged within four to seven days. In such a case, a loss of up to Rs. 25,000 has to be borne by the consumer.
Where to go after online fraud
According to the Microsoft 2021 Global Tech Support Scam Research Report, 73 percent of online scam victims in India have spoken to scammers or swindlers and lost money by falling into their trap. Of these, 31 percent people were confused about the return of money from the fraudsters after the incident. When a person is a victim of online fraud, he or she does not inform the bank. The survey revealed that after getting swindled, people waste time getting into arguments with the swindler gang or company.
Dos and don'ts
- Never click an unintentional link on a phone or mail
- Never make financial transactions with public computers and Wi-Fi
- If you have doubts during any transaction, stop the transaction
- If you fall victim to fraud, inform the bank immediately with the transaction details
- Be sure to register a complaint by visiting the Home Ministry portal cybercrime.gov.in
